The Old Versus the New
by ShotThunder
Summary: Just a slight observation story of Buffy and Faith. If you have the time please read and review, it is much appreciated! Disclaimers on my profile. Rated just in case.


The Old Versus the New

The Faith you knew had never been one for patients or any other type of virtue that required her to think before she acted. Faith had never been one of those people who always tried to predict the outcome of whatever it was she was going to do-she enjoyed the thrill of the unknown. She had also, never been one to stay so still that people forgot she was even there to begin with.

If you asked her, honestly, why she was standing here then, in the back of a well lit living room, not participating in the uproarious events unfolding or thinking so much her breathing had transferred to shallow breaths-she probably wouldn't even realize you where speaking to her. Faith had never been one to listen to people well.

If you watched her with a critical eye, you would notice her smoldering brown eyes had moved around the room to watch every fluid motion the reason for the party was going through. But then, Faith had never been one to be too obvious about anything she was doing if she could help it, and to try and shake off any attention she'd look away from the pretty blonde every few minutes only to return with a sharp accuracy.

If you paid attention really close, you'd notice that while Faith had slunk her curvacious body into a darkened corner and the blonde had made a point of fluttering around the room, they where doing it for each other. While Faith had been all up for party's, something as intimate as this always made her want to hide away from it.

After multiple hours have passed and the party goers have crashed on any flat surface, two on the couch, one on the table, another two curled together on the floor and a last one dozing in a thick leather chair with a half-full glass of Scotch in his hand still, Faith will pull herself away from the corner she'd been all night-nursing a bottle of Jack Daniels all to herself. If you stay real quiet and pretend like your sleeping, you'll see as she make her way around any sleeping bodies or fallen trash, to make her way beside the pretty blonde.

You'll hear her speak in low, husky tones to the blonde, asking her if she is alright and if there was anything she could do. You'll watch as the blonde shakes her head and takes the bottle from Faith, throwing back a shot straight from the bottle that surprises you, then warms you with feelings of old love as she makes a noise after she pulls away from you. You almost laugh but thankfully your slight slip was covered by Faith as she laughs and takes the bottle back, and tosses it carelessly into the small fire that had been burning.

If you snake your way closer, under the pretense of moving in you're sleep, you'll see Faith's hands resting delicately on the blonde's hips. The blonde herself, to whom you've always felt amounts of awe for, has her hands resting on Faith's arms, her fingers lightly tracing the tribal tattoo that Faith showed off proudly. You'll be unable to not feel a small amount of jealousy as you watch them bow their heads together, forehead to forehead, and though their lips don't move and you're ears have stopped picking up sound, you know they are talking-and yet you have no idea if you're jealous of Faith because she got the girl, or the girl because she got Faith.

The Faith you knew was never one for emotional moments, so when you see her full lips quivering softly and a tear slip down her cheek to kiss the corner of her lips then continue down to lick down her neck and stop at her collar bone, you can't help but feel like you're witnessing a miracle before your eyes. You watch as Faith pulls away and looks down at you, you close your eyes as fast as you can and hope she didn't see you're eyes open.

When minutes pass and nothing happens you risk cracking you're eye open and watch them as they go about picking up the living room from between your eyelashes. You watch as Faith playfully throws a wadded up napkin at the blonde and dodge an equally playfully thrown red plastic cup.

The Faith you knew was never one to be very patient, and you can still see some of that as Faith lunges across the table separating the two warring parties now and wrap the blonde in her arms. But that person you once knew, those habits you once acknowledged as Faith just being Faith, are now diluted due to age and time and you watch as instead of plowing forward with whatever activities she could come up with, she waited instead for the blonde to softly touch her cheek and pull her into a kiss that takes you both by surprise and mild disappointment for a possibility long passed dead.

The Faith you knew once a upon a time would never have thought twice about shoving the sleeping bodies off the couch and ravishing the blonde on it. Now it seems Faith is the one who is thinking and pulls away from her counterpart when it's her who makes to continue things where everyone could wake up at anytime and catch them. Faith who grabs her hand and pulls her away.

And while this new Faith had her ability to be uncannily still, she could still see the old Faith in the frantic movements of her hands as she tried pulling them away from the room.

You watch all of this with new eyes, not widened in shock or horror or disgust clouding your visions. You watch them with the ability to see them as what they are, compatibly incompatible. You could set them up with a psychiatrist and have them talk for days on end, and you know that by the end the two of them would be the same as they have been, and the psychiatrist would still be unable to help you with trying to find answers to how that is possible. And you know, that while the old Faith had been desolate and almost fragile under her own demons and inner wars, the word battles would be too light for what she'd gone through, you can see that the new Faith was stronger and better than she'd ever been.

You smile to yourself as all of this information clears it's way into your mind and you close your eyes, stealing the blanket off the sleeping body of the young, annoying, man sprawled across the table and curl onto your side, falling into blissful oblivion.


End file.
